DH went to undergrad at a state school with an 80% acceptance rate, and then took a winding path through med school and residency. After practicing for a decade, he earned a PhD and went to work in a high profile lab at Columbia, publishing regularly in high impact journals. Lots of prestige, but terrible hours and even worse pay. He missed patient contact, and felt that medical research is more effective when guided by physician experience. He left research to do a medical fellowship. Now, he spends most of his time seeing patients at hospitals you’ve never heard of, doing public education in science and medicine, and volunteering for nonprofits.
Is my husband’s life tragic because he stopped doing research? Maybe his life was a failure from the start since he didn’t go to an Ivy, or even a Top 100 university for undergrad.
He doesn’t have fame, prestige, or anything that makes him feel superior, but he has the respect of his colleagues and community, the love of his family and friends, and the absolute adoration of his dogs😉.
I’m not even going to go into the “tragedy” of what I’ve done with my degree, which is become a stay-at-home mom and volunteer in my community😊.